Nirnhorned VS Precise

Jsmalls · December 2015

I know this Topic has been overdone to death, but I looked through numerous threads and couldn't find the answer.

So my question is at what point is each better when involving Elfborn and the Shadow Mundus...

When using Shadow and virtually maxing out Elfborn you are gaining a bit higher than 90% critical hit strength (100% if you're a Templar) so at that point wouldn't the extra 7% critical strike chance out way the spell penetration bonus?

And yes I'm aware that the Thief + Nirnhorned is more dps, but I'm much more a fan of massive potential bursts for pvp and I've found myself much more deadly with Shadow vs Thief.

So I guess my question is are my hits with Nirnhorned hard enough to justify losing those power hits 7% of the time.

(I'm on console so it's hard for me to test...)

Added question, is there anyway to change your username!?!? I've had this since the PC beta and I'd much rather use my Xbox GT since that's what I play on now...

lolo_01b16_ESO · December 2015

It's impossible to answer this question without knowing the resistances of your opponent.
If you're fighting someone in light armour nirnhorned will most likely be overkill and don't provide a significant damage increase whereas precise will show it's full potential.
If you are fighting someone with heavy impenetrable armour nirnhorned will provide a greater benefit than precise.
If you are fighting against someone who uses damage shields a lot, it doesn't matter since you can't do critical damage against shields and shields have 0 spell resistance, so there's nothing to penetrate.

Jsmalls · December 2015

Actually that response helps a lot. Considering it's really Magicka NBs and Sorcs and Stamina NB and DKS that are the ones I really need to do maybe bursts to before they can do the same to me. And considering they would either be wearing light or medium armor it would lean more towards precise being beneficial. Appreciate the response!

leepalmer95 · December 2015

jyates214b14_ESO wrote: »

Actually that response helps a lot. Considering it's really Magicka NBs and Sorcs and Stamina NB and DKS that are the ones I really need to do maybe bursts to before they can do the same to me. And considering they would either be wearing light or medium armor it would lean more towards precise being beneficial. Appreciate the response!

Stam nb's would have 20k armour most of the time because of their passive, same with dk's using volatile my dps stam dk usually has 25k because of volatile + monster helm set *blood spawn*

Asayre · December 2015

Without knowing more about your build, @jyates214b14_ESO, it is hard to accurately decide between Precise and Nirnhoned. But in my opinion, you will be better off in Nirnhoned. My reasoning is based on my post http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/2238031/#Comment_2238031 and @Leandor comment

Leandor wrote: »

Doesn't that mean that considering a V16 opponent and the fact that 7 LA do provide more than 14k spell resistance (if the passive is included), and 7 MA close to 14k spell resistance, it is always better to use nirnhoned over precise for magicka damage?

Jsmalls · December 2015

I found a chart for the damage and Nirnhorned was roughly 7% more damage but I'm not sure what the spell resist was on the target.

But based off of the 7% more damage and factoring in the two spell critical chances with the 90% critical damage strength over 100 attacks Nirnhorned came out on top by about 1.5%.

So I came to the conclusion that precise for the time being would be better because I'd rather have a 7% better chance of hitting really hard than the extra 7% each hit. I feel like that's going to work better in a pvp scenario where I'd rather not tip the scales towards not critically striking the majority of the time.

As far as my setup I have 40k max Magicka 3200 Spell power buffed, with 58% critical strike chance (with precise), and 90% critical strike strength (22% Elfborn, 18% Shadow). Only have 1% spell penetration ( additionally the LA passive that idk the % on because Xbox UI won't tell you).